


don't be so cold

by Lavende



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: AFTG Exchange, AFTG Exchange Fall 2020, AFTG Fall Exchange 2020, Fluff, Gift, M/M, Sibling Bonding, kevaaron - Freeform, lots of ice cream, mostly except when aaron is being emo, soft, the upperclassmen are trying to help, twinyards, twinyards with a scoop of kevaaron
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-18
Updated: 2020-09-18
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:01:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26531803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lavende/pseuds/Lavende
Summary: Aaron is on a quest to discover what is Andrew’s favorite ice cream flavor, but of course he can’t just ask him.
Relationships: Aaron Minyard & Andrew Minyard, Kevin Day/Aaron Minyard, Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard
Comments: 25
Kudos: 198





	don't be so cold

**Author's Note:**

  * For [strikerkudo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/strikerkudo/gifts).



> Hello! to strikerkudo: I really hope you'll like it! This was quite a challenge to me since I never wrote something in Aaron's POV, but I did appreciate it after all! Your ideas were sweet but this one made me smile so much so I had to write it!
> 
> Written for the AFTG Fall Exchange 2020.

“Is there a reason why we can’t go to the closest grocery store?” Matt asks nicely as they drive past the nearest store, and Aaron can automatically tell he's trying not to bother him with this question.

“Because there is a flavor of ice cream I want that they don’t have there,” Aaron says truthfully, but without the intention of adding more to it. It's already an improvement to the silence he would have offered before. It might be after Katelyn and him ended it that Aaron started talking more and more with the upperclassmen, and rooming with Matt probably helped. It always seemed like it was stronger than Matt, he couldn't help but try to be friendly and start conversations, even when met with a cold shoulder.

The corner of his mouth twitches as he stops the truck at the red light.

“A flavor you suddenly need?” Matt adds, knowing full well Aaron has been buying too many pints of ice cream to be the one eating them all. Similarly to his brother, Aaron has a sweet tooth and enjoys anything sugary, but Andrew has taken it to another level Aaron has yet to reach.

Rolling his eyes, Aaron opens the window to let the fresh fall air filter inside. "I'm pretty sure you can entertain yourself for the 5 minute drive without asking me to fill in the silence," Aaron says without much heat, but also lacking the warmth that would have invited Matt to argue with him.

Taking it as a cue, Matt scoffs as he reaches for the radio. The music is easily too loud for Aaron's tastes, but he doesn't complain now that he doesn't have to talk anymore.

It's not like he wants to share why he's buying so much ice cream.  
***  
Entering Andrew’s dorm is easy. Aaron had borrowed (stolen, really) Kevin’s key one night when he had fallen asleep on the couch beside Aaron and made a copy of it before dropping the original key in the Maserati for Kevin to find it back later on.

Once the door is open, Aaron quickly scans the room, making sure nobody is here. He learned the schedule of the three men who live here a little over a month ago, but you never know. Kevin texted him 30 minutes ago to complain about one of his teachers, so Aaron knows he’s still in class. Neil also usually doesn't miss class, valuying passing them all to continue playing too important to allow himself to slack off.

Andrew is the one Aaron is being careful with;he has some bad days sometimes. Not that he talks about them to Aaron, but those days when Andrew misses classes, there are always signs; too many cigarettes, long-sleeved shirts over his armbands even in the middle of summer, or the subtle twitches at any sound around him. Things he probably expects no one to notice, but Aaron has spent so much time being ignored by his brother that he only has had this one thing to do, observe.

It might have been because he observed his brother so much, trying to find the lines that made them twins more than just their physical appearance, that Aaron realised there was still a lot he didn’t know once they started talking more this year. For example, Andrew’s favorite ice cream flavor.

Once Aaron is sure there are no noises coming from the bedroom or bathroom, he enters his old dorm and closes the door behind him, making sure to lock it behind him. He gets to the small kitchenette and opens the freezer, only to find that the last pint of ice cream (cookies and cream) he bought three days ago disappeared. It isn’t a flavor Kevin likes and Neil usually only takes fruit flavored ones, which means Andrew ate it all in two days.

He puts the new pint of almond-chocolate-coconut in the freezer and closes it right after. He sighs in defeat, before heading to the garbage can, opening the lid to check if he can see the empty package. As with all the others Aaron put in the freezer, it’s sitting on top, which means Andrew probably finished it the previous day. Exactly two day after Aaron put it there. Again, like most of the others.

Without anything left to do, Aaron closes the garbage can and heads outside, locking behind him.  
***  
Sitting at his desk and trying to study, Aaron can't help but wonder what could help him figure out Andrew's favorite ice cream instead of figuring out his biology assignment. Placing the ice cream in Andrew's freezer had been the simplest, especially considering Kevin doesn’t eat a lot of ice cream and Neil neither. He could almost 100% trust the results by going to look everyday.

He gives himself another 5 minutes of trying to do his homework, but soon enough, he slides the first drawer at his right open. On top of some unused textbooks and pens, is a simple blue notebook. Since he started putting different flavors in Andrew's freezer, he’s been writing them all down and keeping track of the eating speed.

Dulce de leche, Baileys Irish Cream, chocolate chips, fudge, royal banana, hazelnut, etc. So many already, but Andrew went through them so fast Aaron has only been able to eliminate 3 of them because it took his brother one more day to eat those. With care, even with his annoyance, he writes down a small 2 beside the flavor he saw in the garbage can earlier—cookies and cream—and almond-chocolate-coconut under it.

The amount of 2s on the page is telling: he will probably not find out what he's searching for like this. It feels like failure, again.

Aaron pushes the notebook away. It shouldn't be that hard to find out someone's favorite ice cream flavor, especially when that someone is your twin.

Not that he's going to ask him, that'd be admitting defeat. Most of what he’s learned about Andrew, he’s managed to find it out by himself, without asking. What kind of brother would he be if he couldn't find out something so simple by himself?

Feeling his thoughts taking one very familiar dark turn, Aaron gets up to retrieve his phone, plugged on the kitchen counter. There are multiple messages from Nicky and one lonely message from Kevin, the latter one comforting to him even in its simplicity: Do you want to go grab dinner?

Aaron types a simple yeah, knowing Kevin will come knock at his door when he's done with his class. Meanwhile, Aaron decides taking a shower might be a good idea. It will give him something to do. He heads to the shared bedroom to retrieve some clothes, choosing a shirt Kevin once positively commented on while drunk.

When he gets out, he almost doesn't notice Matt standing in front of his desk, looking down at the opened notebook Aaron left there thinking his roommate wouldn't be back now. "That's a bit nosy of you, don't you think?" Aaron comments, annoyed, striding to his desk to pick up the incriminating log, and quickly shoving it in the half opened drawer without care.

Matt has the decency to look guilty for a minute before rubbing the back of his head. "It's not like you were that subtle either," he says. "I mean, you bought all these ice cream pints when we go grocery shopping, but I didn't see you eat any and there is none in our freezer."

Aaron opens his mouth to complain about Matt being nosy anyway— it's not because he thought he knew something that it meant he had the right to look through his roommate's stuff without asking. Before he can say anything, though, Dan’s voice stops him from the couch.

“Asking your brother sounds way easier than whatever you’re doing now, don’t you think?” she says it as if it is easy, lying on the couch on her back. Aaron hates to have them interfere in something they can’t understand. Nobody can really understand his relationship with Andrew. It’s not everyday one meets separated-at-birth twins.

“I can’t just ask him,” Aaron indulges, deciding to not just shut them all out. It’s something Betsy recommended to him, when he started the sessions with Andrew, but honestly, he usually dismisses any personal recommendation that doesn’t directly involve his twin.

“Why not?” Matt asks, genuinely curious. It was something easy with Matt, noticing feelings, because he was such an open book, and Aaron would probably never understand. 

“Because, I need to find the answer by myself. It’s not something that is supposed to be hard to notice.” Right after his words, Aaron automatically feels annoyed by the glance Matt and Dan exchange. “Listen, do you have any idea to help me figure it out that doesn’t involve asking him? If not, I’m fine with my ways.” However, if he is being honest, his ways are starting to eat a hole in his budget and patience. 

Finally sitting, leaving a spot for Matt to join her on the couch, Dan bites her lower lip for a second. “Ask Renee? She might know, or I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t mind asking him.” 

“That isn’t better than asking him. I’ll manage alone.” Aaron sighs, and, deeming the conversation useless, he walks to the bathroom.

“You should invite him to an ice cream place, like once a week or something, seems easier to figure it out when he’s the one choosing it,” Matt calls behind him, probably desperate to find something to help his roommate. 

Aaron is about to argue that they go to eat ice cream on many Fridays, but it’s true that Sweetie’s doesn't have that many flavors.

Instead of agreeing, Aaron doesn’t turn back and closes the door behind him.

He hopes that one of the ice cream parlors around is still open.

***

When he’s done with his shower, Aaron doesn’t wait for Kevin to come knock at his door like he had planned. Once he’s sure he has his wallet and keys in his pockets, he dismisses Dan’s invitation to order food with them and heads out. 

By now, Kevin and Andrew should be back. Knocking at the door still feels weird when this used to be his room too, especially since he still has the key on the keyring in his pocket. It’s not like someone would suddenly recognize it even if he doesn’t hide it.

Without surprise, it’s his brother who answers the door with one slightly raised eyebrow. Not saying a word, Andrew retreats from the door directly to the couch; he picks up the lonely controller that was left on the cushion and his thumb hovers over the start button. Andrew gives one last bored glance in Aaron’s direction, fetching for the second controller and leaving it on the couch beside him.

These moments are more and more frequent, which Aaron is still trying to get used to. There is the sound of the shower running in the background, so Aaron supposes that he does have a moment to spend playing with his brother. Anyway, it’s even better now that he has a question for him.

“Only while I wait for Kevin,” he says, taking place on the couch and picking up his assigned controller. It’s one of the zombie games he’s used to play with Nicky, so it’s easy to get invested in it and forget about the rest for a moment. The times he can empty his mind are to be cherished, so it takes him a few minutes before he realises the shower has stopped.

Aaron knows asking Andrew if he wants to do anything will serve nothing, so instead he asks, “I’ve been craving ice cream, I’m going to that ice cream parlor tomorrow, are you coming?” Way simpler, doesn’t ask Andrew if he wants anything, because it just offers him the possibility to be there or not. Also, that way the activity doesn’t seem like it has been planned around Andrew’s attendance.  
His brother doesn’t answer right away, nor does he pause the game, so Aaron waits nervously as he continues pressing the buttons in a distracted way. When the door to the bathroom finally opens, Andrew decides to give him a response, as if it was planned. “Why not, I can go to the ice cream parlor with you tomorrow.” 

“What?” Kevin says behind them and Aaron turns, forgetting about the game to look at his half-dressed boyfriend. He looks highly annoyed, but at least his naked chest still moist from the shower is a nice view. “You aren’t going to go eat ice cream again!” It doesn’t sound like a question, more like an order, which tells Aaron he won, because Andrew is certainly coming now that Kevin asked him not to.

Aaron gets up, leaving the controller on the coffee table. “Stop standing there complaining and go dress so we can go out, I’m hungry,” he says, crossing his arms on his chest. 

“It’s not even summer anymore,” Kevin argues, unable to just let it go. 

Dismissing his boyfriend, Aaron turns around, walking to the door. “You have 5 minutes,” he calls back as he goes out to wait in the hallway to prove his point. Once out of view, Aaron sighs in relief, picking up his phone to make sure one of the good ice cream parlors is open.

He’s going to find out what is Andrew’s favorite flavor.

***

It’s official, Aaron wants to rip his hair out. “Did you really order a sundae?” he asks, defeated. It’s not even a special one, it's just a plain chocolate and brownie one. It’s not even a damn flavor of ice cream and he made sure to pick a place that carries a few dozen of them.

Andrew gives him a look, the same look he usually has when he’s trying to figure something out that Aaron isn’t telling him. Quickly, he adds, “It’s just boring, don’t give me that look.” It’s not like Aaron took something that exciting himself; a simple frozen yogurt made with strawberries. 

When their orders get served to them, Andrew eyes his twin’s iced treat, and Aaron realises Neil would have taken something similar. It makes him frown. He wishes he had taken something more sugary that would have made Neil gag instead, even if he isn’t here. 

No pettiness at all. 

Andrew doesn’t lose time choosing a table outside, even if the breeze that had settled in in the morning is still present. He’s wearing the coat Nicky bought for him at Christmas, and each time Aaron sees it, he can’t help but remember Neil has the exact same. Just another thing to bring them closer. 

As if they need it, really, it’s not like they aren’t already joined at the hip. Aaron doesn’t get how Neil managed to get so close to Andrew and get his trust so fast, but it seems like he managed something even Andrew’s twin still fails to do all the time.

Before Aaron even notices the cigarette between Andrew’s fingers, smoke gets blown in his face, making his throat itches. He takes a spoon of his dessert and swallows it quickly to hold himself from coughing. 

“Okay, what was that for?” he asks, annoyed, pettily eating more. 

Andrew blows some more smoke, on the side this time, before throwing his cigarette on the ground to crush it under his foot. “You were thinking about something dumb. Your poker face isn’t as good as you want to believe it is,” he answers, finally taking a bite of his sundae. It’s slightly melted, just the way Aaron remembers Andrew prefers it. 

Eh, at least this, he knows. 

“I wasn’t,” Aaron retorts. “Shut up.” 

Andrew’s attention flickers at Aaron’s right, so the latter turns around to find two girls standing near their table. One of them is wearing a Palmetto State University hoodie, and she’s also the one who talks first.

“Hey, we were wondering if you’d like to—”

“We’re gay, get lost,” Andrew interrupts her, automatically ignoring her right after, leaving Aaron to deal with this.

Damn, he wants to facepalm, and he hopes the heat he feels on his cheeks isn’t too apparent. “I’m not gay, but we aren’t interested, bye.” When the girls are gone, Aaron glares at Andrew while shoving the frozen yogourt in his mouth. 

“I think dating Kevin makes you plenty gay,” Andrew points out, unphased by Aaron’s annoyance. “No matter how much of a homophobe you are. We call it denial, by the way.”

“Fuck you, I was with a girl before, remember? Not gay.” That doesn’t make him straight either, but he’s not ready for that conversation just yet. “Just eat your food,” Aaron mumbles, looking away from Andrew’s unimpressed stare.

Dammit, on top of it all, he doesn’t even know Andrew’s favorite ice cream flavor yet.

***

“I take it that it didn’t work?” Dan says, the door clicking shut behind her.

Aaron groans from the couch, his face planted in the cushion. His will to live is pretty much at minus 10 right now, even if he has to study for a biology exam the next day. 

“What didn’t work?” Renee’s soft voice asks, and Aaron finally raises his head to see that Matt came back with the girls. Allison will probably join them later.

“Aaron is trying to figure out Andrew’s favorite ice cream flavor,” Matt informs Renee, as if not enough people know about it already. “But he’s adamant about not asking him and making his own life easier.” 

Before Renee can say anything, Aaron raises one hand. “Don’t tell me if you know.” He glares at her, still not warming up to her like he has to Dan and Matt. Is it because he’s, again, bitter Renee is closer to his brother than he is? Hell if he knows, but what he knows is that he’s not going to think about it. 

“Honestly, though,” Dan says, going to sit on the ground in front of the couch as Matt makes his way to the bedroom. “That would be way easier than dropping random flavors in his freezer.”

From the doorway, Renee is still looking at him pensively. Aaron hates the way she makes him feel, and avoiding her is what is easier, he thinks. As if she found an answer just like this, she smiles sweetly at him. “We’re going to the grocery store, do you want to come?” she asks, which makes Dan groan.

“Why are you encouraging him? You could just tell him the answer so he stops spending so much,” Dan comments, visibly done with Aaron’s childish game. 

Renee gives her a patient look. “I think this is something important to Aaron, and if he wants to ask, he will. I do think he should ask Andrew about it, but we can’t presume to understand why Aaron is doing it that way, can we?” she answers calmly, and Aaron is reminded again of why he doesn’t like her. 

Which is why he’s about to decline the invitation, when she adds, “Also, I don’t think anyone knows what Andrew’s favorite ice cream flavor is. Don’t we just all assume he loves it as long as it is sugary?” 

Oh. 

Renee doesn’t know. 

“I’m coming,” Aaron says as he gets up to go retrieve his wallet, changing his mind.

He’s going to be the one with that damn knowledge.

His exam can wait a bit.

***

Aaron should probably wait till the next day to go put the new ice cream pints he bought, yet he can’t help it, he needs to go put at least one there. From the schedule Aaron has, Neil is supposed to be back soon, but unless he’s unlucky, he should still have enough time.

He crosses to the other room, using his key once more to enter his old dorm. When he gets in, there is no sound and no one around, so Aaron hurries to the freezer. He doesn’t have time to open it before he hears Neil’s voice behind him.

“Andrew was right then, you’re the one dropping all these pints.”

His heart suddenly beating too fast, Aaron turns around, trying his best to keep all of his emotions in. Finding Neil there, leaning against the doorway to his room, he feels sudden shame and anger.

Then the words hit him; Andrew knows?

“Don’t you have a class?” Aaron asks, dropping the ice cream pints on the small kitchen counter, feeling defeat set in his bones. If at least it would have been Kevin, he could have explained or something. 

“Got cancelled,” Neil answers, eyeing the melting desserts. “Kevin didn’t lose the key that time, did he?” 

It’s unnerving when Neil pieces things together, and Aaron feels like punching him again. 

“What do you want?” Aaron asks back instead of answering.

“To understand why you’re suddenly overfeeding Andrew sugar.” Neil gets closer, tapping on the counter with one finger. “Frozen sugar only. To be honest, I think Andrew ate them all so fast because it was pissing Kevin off. You know him.” 

Aaron sighs because, if he thinks about it, he does know his brother to an extent, and if there is one thing Andrew likes doing, it’s to challenge someone trying to tell him what to do. Which means that all of this has been for nothing, because Andrew only ate the ice cream because he didn’t mind it and wanted Kevin to be mad.

Now that he thinks about it, Andrew has been pushing himself harder at morning practices. Probably to burn off the extra calories Aaron has been handing him on a golden tray. He groans.

He’s so stupid sometimes. 

Annoyed at all of this, and unwilling to stay alone with Neil, Aaron turns around, leaving the treats on the counter for whoever is going to eat them. He doesn’t care anymore. However, before he can reach the door, it opens to let his brother enter. He wasn’t unlucky enough today, apparently.

Andrew doesn’t look surprised to see him here, not that he often looks surprised either. His attention flickers toward the ice cream and he walks past Aaron, directly to it. It doesn’t take him long to decide on the cake batter one, opening the lid and finding a spoon for himself. He then sits on the small counter, eyeing his brother.

“You should buy this one more often,” Andrew tells him, shoving a full spoon of melting ice cream in his mouth and munching through the chunks of cake batter. 

Aaron frowns, wondering why Andrew doesn’t question him or directly call him an imbecile. Neil doesn’t seem to want to interfere, but he looks at them with interest. That boy is too curious for his own damn good. 

“Why? I thought you were tired of…” Aaron stops talking, suddenly realising something. He assumed Andrew was tired of this flavor since he bought it so often in the past, when Nicky would give them some money, in high school. After he got on his pills, Aaron didn’t see him eat any anymore, thus thinking he got tired of it, but maybe he just assumed wrong. 

Andrew wasn’t tired of it, he just didn’t want to eat his favorite flavor tainted by the high of the drugs. That, or he didn’t think he deserved something he liked. This is something Betsy has helped him understand, and even if Aaron doesn’t like it when she’s right, he has to admit she got a pretty decent portrayal of Andrew. 

At Aaron’s silence, Andrew finally raises an eyebrow and removes the spoon from his mouth with a loud pop. 

“Okay, I’ll buy this one more often,” Aaron finally says, shrugging as he turns around to continue his walk to the door.

Relief fills him so fast that he doesn’t even care about Neil's comment about how weird they are as he closes the door behind him. 

Aaron doesn’t care about anything else than that; he finally knows what is Andrew’s favorite ice cream, and he didn’t have to ask. He already knew, he just interpreted it wrong.

This insignificant knowledge shouldn’t make him feel so good for the first time in days, but it does. It’s one step closer to really understanding Andrew, and maybe that having some help from Andrew in this isn’t meaningless after all. That’s a way for his brother to guide him in the right direction. Maybe, for once, he isn’t against Aaron finding him where he stands.

“What are you doing?” Kevin asks as he reaches him, still standing in front of his old dorm door. He looks confused as hell, and Aaron understands when he brings his own fingers to his mouth.

He’s smiling. 

“Nothing, you’re looking good,” Aaron answers, unwilling to give this to Kevin—this is something between him and Andrew only. To avoid further questioning, he grabs Kevin by the collar of his shirt, bringing him down for a kiss.

Kevin melts in the kiss for a second, but he pushes himself up a bit to stop them. “Did you hit your head?” he asks seriously, and his worries, usually sparse for others, warm Aaron further.   
“Shut up, you’re an idiot.” And Aaron just grabs him once more when he’s sure nobody else is in the hallway to kiss him again. “Let’s watch a movie or something.”

Finding out what Andrew’s favorite ice cream flavor is, kissing Kevin in the hallway when someone could find them—maybe these are baby steps, but they are enough for Aaron today.

**Author's Note:**

> And in the end, he knew all along.
> 
> Anyway, thank you for reading! A comment or a kudos can mean the world!
> 
> You can come talk to me here:  
> Twitter : [Lav_ende](https://twitter.com/lav_ende)  
> Tumblr : [Lav-ende](https://lav-ende.tumblr.com/)  
> 


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